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Help! My bay trees have lost all their beautiful dark green colour and are now looking pretty unwell with pale green and brown leaves. They are in a pot which I only drilled drainage holes in this spring (at which point a good amount of water drained out). I have had them in the same pot for 12 months and only forked in some tomato feed and fresh compost this spring (once they had already started looking poorly). They get around 3 hours of sun per day and are reasonably well sheltered from the wind. From reading around I fear the following:
a) They were over-watered due to poor drainage from the pots
b) They were damaged in the frosts this winter (no specific soil protection)
c) In my concern with over-watering, I might now be under-watering (basically I have no idea - all I know is that both over and under-watering can be an issue!!)
Please help - advice to help save them would be much appreciated! Pictures are attached - both zoomed in and 1 picture of the pot / surrounding area
Many thanks
6 Jul, 2010
Answers
Rescussitation techniques as Janey describes in her second paragraph are worth a try, but a word on watering - it is not possible to overwater as long as the container has drainage holes which are not blocked, and as long as the container is not standing in a drip tray which catches and holds the water. I'd say your plants have suffered serious drought as much as anything else.
7 Jul, 2010
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Hello Michael....they certainly don't look very healthy right now. I have a conical bay tree which at the moment has put on lots of new bright growth, but does need re-potting, which I'll be doing in a few days time.
I have found the care instructions which say Spring, water 3 times a week and fertilize monthly. Summer, which is the main period of growth, water 4 times a week and summer prune which involves pruning the growing branches to keep the shape.
I'm wondering if yours have been in the wind and have dried out, I would take them out of their pots and have a look at the roots...if they are dried out, soak them for a couple of hours, then re-pot in fresh medium and thin out the ball shape and reposition somewhere more sheltered....don't forget to water them 4 times a week. Good luck!
6 Jul, 2010